Ibogaine in Venezuela

Ibogaine in Venezuela – Dr. Zulema Cendon is a director of the Venezuelan Society of Psychiatry and currently director of a public drug treatment center in Caracas. Dr. Rosalía Dávalos is Director of Casa De Reposo La Ribera, a privately run drug treatment center. They were in Washington, DC the weekend of February 15, 2008 to discuss the use of Iboga, an African rain forest plant touted as the source of Ibogaine, a promising drug for treating addicts. The Venezuelan representatives attended three days of presentations on the use of Iboga in addiction therapy by psychiatrists, ethnobotanists, pharmacologists, entrepreneurs and the media. Besides Venezuela presenters came to DC from South Africa, Mexico, and the United States west coast to discuss recent findings by doctors, biomedical researchers, religious practitioners and drug treatment professionals, who have administered Ibogaine to nearly 5000 patients seeking relief from drug addiction. The Ibogaine Conference culminated in the presentations of Dr. Cendon and Dr. Dávalos who shared their workshop with noted United States civil rights activist Dhoruba bin-Wahad who discussed how activists in North & South America could work together to humanely combat the scourge of addiction. The Venezuelan representatives promised the full support from their nation’s drug treatment establishment in working to add Ibogaine to the treatment arsenal in the war on drugs.